A virtual scavenger hunt game is making waves across Tāmaki Makaurau, with nearly 600 whānau bubbles completing over 10,000 family-friendly missions during alert level 4.
Keeping active during this time plays a critical role in our wellbeing. During lockdown when normal opportunities to be active are less available, Healthy Families Waitākere identified a need to support innovative ways for whānau to stay healthy and connected.
Licensed to Auckland Council, Goose Chase is a free app game where participants choose from a selection of missions to complete, earning points each time. The game can be tailored to a specific region, topics or themes, with organisers creating regular missions for participants to take part, in the hopes of seeing their name at the top of the leader board.
Healthy Families Waitākere worked with Auckland Council to bring the game to life, titled #WeGotThisNZ, creating missions to promote being active and supporting wellbeing. Healthy Families Waitākere Manager, Kerry Allan, explains.
“Whilst working alongside Auckland Council, our team worked to create missions aligning with the five ways of wellbeing, developed by the Mental Health Foundation. We overlaid the approach with our key focus areas of live, learn, work and play to ensure a broad spectrum of missions were created for whānau bubbles to enjoy.”
The opportunity for Healthy Families Waitākere to take part in its development arose earlier this year during a play hui, where a network of organisations working in the sector met to explore opportunities for collaboration. Auckland Council Activation Team Manager, Peter Caccioppoli, explains.
“During the hui, I heard about what Healthy Families Waitākere team are doing in the play space and I realised how well placed the team were to bring Goose Chase to life. The team have been instrumental in its development, which has now seen great success and engagement across Tāmaki Makaurau.”
GooseChase has been adapted to ensure all missions aligned with the Ministry of Health guidelines during COVID-19, enabling whanau bubbles to stay active and have fun during lockdown.
Due to the success of the #WeGotThisNZ Lockdown Challenge the team has created 12 new games specific to Auckland’s local board regions. With a greater focus on supporting Aucklanders to be more active at home, parks, paths, trails and beaches, while ensuring compliance to all COVID-19 safety guidelines. To learn more about these games, click here.
The original #WeGotThisNZ game has been extended and will end, to make way for the new Local Board games on Friday, May 15.
To learn more about how to take part, click here.
Make sure you tag your photos and videos with #WeGotThisNZ and post to your social media.
